XML Basics (part 1) - The Big Picture (
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They say that the whole is greater than
the sum of its parts...and nowhere is this seen more clearly than with XML and
its ancillary technologies. Over the past year and a half, the XML universe has
grown by leaps and bounds to include many new technologies, most with hard-to-remember
acronyms. Here's a quick list of the important ones, and how they fit into the
larger picture:
XML Schema: XML Schema makes it possible to define the structure and format of
"classes" of XML documents, providing more advanced features than those offered
by the regular Document Type Definition (DTD). Find out more about it at
http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema
XLink: XLink is a specification for linking XML data structures together, in
much the same way as the hyperlinks available in HTML...although XLink allows
for far more sophisticated types of links, including simultaneous links to more
than one resource. Find out more about it at
http://www.w3.org/XML/Linking
XPointer: XPointer is a specification for navigating the hierarchical tree structure
of an XML document, and referencing elements, attributes and other data structures
within the document. Find out more about it at
http://www.w3.org/XML/Linking
XSL and XSLT: The Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) makes it possible to apply
presentation rules to XML documents, and convert - or transform - them from one
format to another. Find out more about it at
http://www.w3.org/Style/XSL/
XHTML: The next version of HTML, XHTML combines the precision of XML markup with
the easy-to-understand tags of HTML to create a more powerful and flexible language.
Find out more about it at
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/
XForms: XForms offers a way to improve the current crop of HTML-based forms by
separating the function of the form from its appearance, thereby making it possible
to easily adapt a form for display on a variety of devices and systems. Find out
more about it at
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/
XML Query: The XML Query effort is focused on creating a specification that makes
it possible to query one or more XML document(s) and generate usable result data
(in much the same way as SQL is used to retrieve database records.) Find out more
about it at
http://www.w3.org/XML/Query
XML Encryption: XML Encryption is a means of encrypting and decrypting XML documents,
so as to secure it against unauthorized usage. Find out more about it at
http://www.w3.org/Encryption/2001/
The list of XML-related technologies keeps increasing, and you should always
refer to the W3C's Web site at
http://www.w3.org/ for the latest information.
This article copyright Melonfire 2001. All rights reserved.
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